Rachel Donelson Jackson

Associated Locations:

• Halifax County, Virginia

Associated Dates:

• June 15, 1767 – Born

Rachel Donelson Jackson is one of the eminent spirits who appeared to President Wilford Woodruff in the St. George Temple on August 21, 1877. This interesting story is detailed in the Eminent Spirits Appear to Wilford Woodruff wiki.
“Here lie the remains of Mrs. Rachel Jackson, wife of President Jackson, who died December 22nd 1828, aged 61. Her face was fair, her person pleasing, her temper amiable, and her heart kind. She delighted in relieving the wants of her fellow-creatures, and cultivated that divine pleasure by the most liberal and unpretending methods. To the poor she was a benefactress; to the rich she was an example; to the wretched a comforter; to the prosperous an ornament. Her pity went hand in hand with her benevolence; and she thanked her Creator for being able to do good. A being so gentle and so virtuous, slander might wound but could not dishonor. Even death, when he tore her from the arms of her husband, could but transplant her to the bosom of her God.”Jackson wrote his wife’s epitaph, which reads as follows:

Christ-like Character Traits

She reputedly told a friend “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than live in that palace in Washington.” ¹

1. As quoted in “First Lady Biography.”